Host Stay Bambro Apartment

I’d have given this zero stars if I could, though two small positives in my experience earn it one each. If I’d known all the facts, I would never have booked this property. The listing photos all showed the ground-floor flat, which looked lovely. We were worried it might be too cheap and there’d be a catch, but I still booked for my husband, our grown-up daughter and me. Both my daughter and I have mobility problems, which mattered a lot here. Communication with the company had been excellent. When our daughter couldn’t come, I let them know we’d be two and they didn’t need to make up the other bed. On Tuesday we arrived exhausted. There was no on-site parking despite the listing saying there was, though we did manage to park outside. The apartment door looked flimsy, and its handle seemed barely attached. We expected stairs to the first floor. I took them slowly, and there was a handrail, but at the top I found another flight going one way and a second flight from the half-landing going the other. The bedrooms were up one set, beside a laughably tiny lounge where three of us would have struggled. The kitchen and bathroom were up the other, steep stairs with no handrail or grab handle. The bathroom was cluttered and shabby, but clean, like the flat overall. Paint was chipped and the skirting boards mismatched. Credit to the cleaning team. There was no rubber bathmat. At the back, a tree was growing through the garage door, which explained the missing parking. I also couldn’t see how we’d get out of the yard in a fire. We stayed the night because the place was clean, but the people downstairs were so noisy and I barely slept. Multiple toilet trips became an expedition during the night, and I didn’t feel safe there. The last straw was that the shower had no hot water. At 9am I called the office to say we were leaving. I’d started packing at 4am because I was so determined. I spoke politely to a man and explained the problems with the flat and the lack of transparency in the listing. He said we couldn’t get a refund, or even our damage waiver back. I’ve emailed the company since, and they’re looking into it. The nice photos fooled us, and I’ve really been burnt.